


The Lackluster Sequel!

by IzInTheFandomsOfTheOther (LadyLetterbomb)



Series: rip to those gays, but I'm Different (Jussipo doesn't die this time) [2]
Category: The Letter for the King (TV)
Genre: But whatever, How they found out, I spelled sequel wrong before but whatever, M/M, but here's the sequal, but i give up after 2, it's a lot more shippy, oop not gonna proofread it but i'm Good anyways, so it becomes, starts out as five + 1, the first was a lot better, well you asked for it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:08:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25269604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyLetterbomb/pseuds/IzInTheFandomsOfTheOther
Summary: "He leans in, and tucks his head on Jussipo’s shoulder while he tries to catch that melody again. It’s gone on the wind, but no matter."Pretty much described it in the tags, but: starts out as a 5+1, I give up after two, it becomes How They Found Out. Features two (2!) Piak interruptions. It's not as funny as the first, but it's still okay. (Hopefully.)
Relationships: Foldo/Jussipo (The Letter for the King), Jussipo & Piak (The Letter for the King), Lavinia/Tiuri the Younger (The Letter for the King)
Series: rip to those gays, but I'm Different (Jussipo doesn't die this time) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1830712
Comments: 2
Kudos: 18





	The Lackluster Sequel!

The best time to try and take your boyfriend on a date is after he was resurrected from the near-dead. 

Wait no, that doesn’t work; everyone keeps crowding around him, making sure he’s okay. You can’t get a moment alone, so you have to settle with sleeping by his bed. His little brother still doesn’t quite get what happened, but he’s still worried. You spend a lot of time with him, just hanging out. 

[absolutely HORRID transition from second person; I’m sorry but writing this whole thing like that would be weird, but it worked so well in beginning I didn’t want to change it]

Piak looks at Foldo (that’s you!) ( _ What’s me? _ Foldo looks a little confused. _ Wait, no one said anything _ ), a little too serious. “Jussipo almost died, didn’t he?” he says, a little too softly. 

Foldo doesn’t say anything for a while. He does that thing again, the thing we talked about before where he doesn’t really look at what he’s looking at, but is also staring at super hard and tbh sometimes I wonder if this kid lives in a perpendicular universe and is talking with the fairies when this happens. He says, “Yes.” Unprompted explanation probably would be good here, but Foldo barely contained his instinct to only nod. 

“He’s okay now though, right?” Piak says nervously. “He’s fine, he’s fine right? He’s going to be okay, he’s going to be fine. It’s over now, and he’s fine. Right?”

“Piak.” Foldo puts a hand on his shoulder. “Calm down. Your brother is going to be fine.” Piak looks a little better, but ya’know, it ain’t the kinda thing you can get over in one day. He’ll always be a little bit more careful, a little bit more worried. A little bit more scared of the world. 

And he’ll always know that if Jussipo  _ had _ died, it would have been for him. 

  
  
  


MOVING ON! So maybe that didn’t work. Surely on the long journey back to Daganout Foldo can have a romantic moment with Jussipo?

Yeah, no, this one’s just not gonna work. They all sleep around the same fire and  _ no one’s _ good at sleeping, they travel in a group all day, so no, no chances here. 

But you can come close. Oh, you can come real close. Because, you see, the group has stopped early (Tiuri is one of those unlucky souls possessing pollen allergies, which has been making him semi-miserable despite no canon confirmation of any season). Lavinia talks with Tiuri, who is just trying his hardest to find That One Position when suddenly your nose doesn’t run anymore and you can finally go back to sleep, but oh wait! you can’t because time is evil and you’re bad at sleeping and now bam! it’s time to get up, and Piak climbs a tree. 

Arman takes the chance to relax, and he tries to have a conversation with Piak, but everyone’s annoyed because they’re shouting so they give up. 

Anyways. Yes. Foldo and Jussipo must go get the firewood. And there’s this really pretty tree over there, in full bloom. The little petals glide down like feathers, and the flowers look like a painting. It’s the kind where the branches are all puffy with the small flowers, the little green leaves hidden. 

Jussipo sits down and leans against it, holding his lute. Foldo chastises him, “Are you going to leave me to pick up all the firewood by myself?” 

“No, I’ll help. Just need a little break.” Jussipo tries to find a melody, without a care in the world. He’s always been a little too carefree, hasn’t he? “ _ After a day’s long ride/musical Jussipo had a horrid pain in his side. Seeking refuge beneath the leaves/he heard some words on the breeze…” _ He cups a hand to his ear to listen to the words of the wind. “Nope, can’t hear it. Wind’s being too quiet today. Sorry.” He shrugs, all a show even for his smiling audience of one. 

Foldo sits down next to him. “You’re looking peaky,” he says, and they both know what he’s really talking about. “Moved on already?”

“Yeah,” Jussipo looks as contemplative as he can, which is to say that, despite all appearances, _ his brain has thoughts sometimes _ . Absurd, I know. “Should I be thinking about it more? You’re certainly thinking about it more than me,” *searches wildly for an appropriate pet name* *none of them sound right* *goes with name* “Foldo. I got hurt pretty bad. Lavinia healed me. It’s all good. ‘Stare into the past too long and you’ll miss the sunrise ahead’ and all.” 

[Wow that sounds like a Chinese proverb, but like, a double one because it doesn’t fit into four characters. Proverbs might be that long all the time though; I only learned idioms in Chinese school before I dropped out.] 

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard that before,” Foldo says. 

Jussipo grins. “I came up with it myself! Pretty good, eh?” 

“It’s... adequate.” Foldo’s face stays entirely serious. 

Jussipo shoves him. “Oh, come on! You know that one was good!” 

He smiles. “You really are doing alright.” And this time it’s a statement and not a question. He leans in, and tucks his head on Jussipo’s shoulder while he tries to catch that melody again. It’s gone on the wind, but no matter. It’s a really sweet moment and all, them cuddling. 

“Did you get the wood yet? They sent me to check up on you two.” Piak’s voice. Foldo and Jussipo spring apart as they hear his footsteps approaching. Foldo stands against the tree, trying very hard to look casual, but, well, you know how it goes. 

Piak looks back and forth between them. “What?”

Jussipo looks back at him. “What?” 

Piak: “What?”

“Nothing! We’re just taking a break.” 

“Okaaay. I’m getting a little cold though. Come back soon,” Piak says and walks away, probably to climb another tree because he’s a little monkey boy like that. And so the boys quickly gather wood and return to the campsite. 

  
  
  


It’s the little things, and Lavinia is the first to notice. It’s so different to tell apart from them being best friends, but it’s there. More smiles. Sitting closer together. Trying to find reasons to touch each other. 

It’s just her and Foldo hanging out in a library somewhere. (Libraries are the churches of those who value knowledge.) “So,” she begins and nudges him. “You and Jussipo, huh?”

Foldo blushes, but there’s no point in denying it. “Yeah,” he says, but he hasn’t talked for a while so it comes out so quiet he doesn’t think she hears it. “Yeah,” he repeats. 

“Good for you two,” Lavinia says. “Now, do you think this is an accurate estimate for the size of the valley?” She taps the map and they get back to work. 

  
  
  


Tiuri would have figured it out, if he knew what to look for. In a way, he did know — he just didn’t realize what he saw. “How long have you and Foldo been friends?” he asks Jussipo one day. 

“For about as long as Piak’s been alive, why?” he answers. 

“I don’t know,” Tiuri says. “You two just seem really close.”

“Yeah.” He takes a deep breath and because he has strange amounts of confidence he says, “We’re boyfriends.” 

“Oh, okay. Lavinia and I are together,” Tiuri replies. And that’s the end of it. 

  
  
  
  


Piak catches them kissing. Some people really need to get some better sense. 

It’s right behind Piak and Jussipo’s house. They were just hanging out, because best friends hang out all the time. Totally not suspicious. And then they were just going for a walk, because people can do that. Totally not suspicious. But, y’know, they weren’t actually walking. 

Well, they do walk around to the back of the house. Foldo leans against the wall to look out at the sunset. It’s not the good part. (They missed that.) What’s left is just sort of a pink haze in the clouds. Everything else is that ethereal blue color that makes you feel like you’re swimming through another dimension and Real Life will resume soon, but not now so you don’t have to worry about it. (This is false reasoning. Real Life is coming to rob you and your children, eat your mac and chez, and stop you from thinking of a good third item whether you expect it or not.) 

But let’s focus on the now, now. Foldo’s looking at the stars. Jussipo’s looking at Foldo. “Hey,” he says. Foldo turns to look at him and everything in the world seems so beautiful that it will never die, and happiness is never a lie because emotions are like zebras, there’s never a baseline but only what is so this is as real as anything and everything and forever could be now and I’d miss it to be with you. (*Technically* zebra skin is black and their fur is white with black stripes, but it was a nice metaphor.) 

Jussipo puts one hand on Foldo’s shoulder and the other on his cheek. Foldo puts his arms around Jussipo’s back. They pull together and it’s as wonderful a kiss as the first one. 

“I’m so glad,” he says and it doesn’t really matter which one, “that I know you.” 

“Me too,” the other one says and it’s all they’ll ever need. And they kiss again. 

“Hey, I’ve been looking for you guys!” Piak says. 

“Piak, I’ll tell you a bedtime story later,” Foldo says but doesn’t bother to look at him. 

Piak asks, “Were you two  _ kissing _ ? I didn’t know you could do that.” 

“Do what?” 

“Kiss boys,” Piak says. “I thought kissing was only for girls.”

“Well, I can,” Jussipo snaps. “Please allow me to continue to do so.”  _ “Little brothers are annoying”  _ is an axiom of life, engraved on the walls of the library of the universe in blue ink. They ran out of black that day. 

“O-kaay,” Piak says and walks away. “I’m telling Mom and Mama though.” 

“I don’t care!” Jussipo shouts. And then he and Foldo go back to leaving this world in each other’s eyes, not that they ever looked away. 

  
  
  


They straight up (lollolololol) tell Arman. The two couples were talking when they realized he didn’t know. “Hey, uh, just so you know, Foldo and I are dating,” Jussipo tells him. 

“Okay, nice, whatever,” he says. “Good for you. I won’t tell my dad, but I’m cool with it.” There isn’t much else to say. (I don't have much else to say.)  


  
  
  


Bonus: Iona’s busy being an absolute legend and committing crimes (be gay do crime? why not), but she still knows, or at least guesses. In a way, back before, when they were still friends and there wasn’t a whole heck of a lot of (back)stabbery inbetween them, she was the first to think it. 

**Author's Note:**

> I started this a while ago, but didn't finish it until this afternoon. I will most likely not write anymore for this fandom, but if you liked the style I might edit this with a plug for an OC thing later on. 
> 
> Many thanks to everyone who read and enjoyed the first, and I hope this one isn't too much worse. Thank you for reading!


End file.
